Geez Jess... I'm not feeling the love
Actually, I did the painted fin job a while ago. I thought it looked clean and I liked the way the engine looked from the front. Because the valve cover and chain cover were both aluminum color.
Since then I was bitten by the wrinkle paint bug.
After this picture was taken, I have painted the spark plug cover. I did not sand off the fins because I thought the edge of the paint would not be durable.
If I were to do it again, I would sand the fins prior to painting. Then mask them using 6mm wide masking tape. Then I'd paint, removing the masking tape before the paint dried.